Chapter 22: Experimenting
After they finished burying their fallen comrades, the mercenaries returned to the caverns. They moved with practiced ease, securing the area, pitching tents, and cooking the game they had caught earlier.
As expected of those who walked so close in Lady Velmira’s embrace and honored the War God Varkun, they mourned with sincerity, and then ate with laughter.
They shared food, swapped crude jokes, and retold the story of slaying a dragon with increasing exaggeration, as though they hadn’t just buried five of their own.
Lucen, sitting quietly near the fire, watched it all with a furrowed brow. He had seen scenes like this plenty of times from the safety of a monitor, in games, anime, and movies. He used to think it was a cool scene, but in reality, it was something else.
This was his reality now, not something you simply see on the monitor, but something warm and alive.
"Hey, little leader, come eat with us." Harlik gestured for Lucen to come sit with them. Lucen approached and sat with the group of mercenaries.
"So little leader, what kind of magic did you use when you were fighting us? It’s the first time I’ve seen such a spell."
"I’ll explain when we make it back to Ironhold," Lucen said, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Well, now I’m even more curious."
"How about you guys, what was the name of your mercenary group?" Lucen tried to change the subject.
"We really didn’t have a name, we were just called Harlik’s mercenary group. How about you give us a new name, little leader?"